Toronto police have stalled in their quest to apprehend a handful of Scarborough gang members suspected in a year-long spate of shootings, including the July gun battle on Danzig Street that killed two bystanders and wounded nearly two dozen others.

In an unusual pair of east-end news conferences Tuesday, investigators acknowledged they had pinpointed the likely perpetrators, but lacked the eyewitness evidence crucial to a successful prosecution.

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Sept. 4, 2011 Three men are wounded by gunfire in front of a Domino’s Pizza at Lawrence Avenue East and Susan Street.

Nov. 4, 2011 A man is shot in the neck and upper body during a drug deal gone awry on Northfield Road. Police have charged Galloway Boys associate Ramon Williams with attempted murder.

Dec. 28, 2011 Three men are apparently targeted in a drive-by shooting at 4315 Kingston Road, the known turf of the Galloway Boys.

Dec. 30, 2011 D’Mitre Barnaby, the victim of a mistaken identity, is shot dead in a parking lot behind an apartment building on Lawrence Avenue East. Two suspects flee the scene.

Jan. 15, 2012 Several shots are fired in the second-floor hallway of 3827 Lawrence Avenue East. No victim is identified.

July 16, 2012 A handful of men spray bullets at a community party on Danzig Street, killing 14-year-old Shyanne Charles and 23-year-old Joshua Yasay, and wounding nearly two dozen others. Police have charged Galloway Boy Nahom Tsegazab with reckless discharge of a firearm and Malvern resident Shaquan Mesquito with making threats prior to the shooting.

Aug. 6, 2012 Several shots are fired in the area of 4100 Lawrence Avenue East. Several suspects are seen fleeing the scene, but no victims are identified.

Aug. 10, 2012 An up-and-coming leader of the Galloway Boys is chased through the Lawrence East RT station and shot.

Megan O’Toole, National Post

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“We’ve received a lot of information and we do have good suspects and persons of interest in this investigation. But ultimately we need witnesses, we need people that are going to take the box and point these guys out in court,” Det. Sgt. Brett Nicol said. “The unfortunate thing is these shooters are small, weak and cowardly, and… because of their propensity for violence and their willingness to shoot guns, they’ve got the community holding back.”

Fuelling the recent string of gun crimes, police say, is an internal power struggle within the Galloway Boys street gang, coupled with two separate turf disputes.

Investigators have linked a small group of Galloway Boys to eight separate shootings spanning the past year, including the Danzig gun battle, which killed innocent bystanders Shyanne Charles, 14, and Joshua Yasay, 23, and wounded 23 others.

Police say violence erupted on Danzig after residents of Malvern — who have long been at odds with the Galloway Boys — turned up at the July street party. The Galloway Boys asked the Malvern residents to leave; instead, the Malvern men returned with reinforcements, and bullets began to fly.

“These were a small group of young punks, approximately five to six people that were involved in the shooting,” Det. Sgt. Peter Trimble said. “It’s cowardice that they would do this in a group of over 100.”

Police have arrested one member of the Galloway Boys and one Malvern resident in relation to the shootout, but were seeking additional suspects on both sides. One of the men wounded on Danzig was shot again last week at a townhouse complex on Chester Le Boulevard, and police are probing a possible connection.

Investigators have also linked the Galloway Boys to the December 2011 slaying of D’Mitre Barnaby, 24, the victim of mistaken identity. Mr. Barnaby was gunned down in a parking lot outside a Toronto Community Housing complex on Lawrence Avenue East; grainy surveillance footage shows two suspects running from the scene.

The intended victim — to whom Mr. Barnaby bore a striking resemblance — lived in Orton Park, an area where the Galloway Boys have an undisclosed “beef” with another group of young men. Police do not believe any of the targeted residents of Orton Park or Malvern were gang members, but in both instances, the Galloway Boys wanted to keep the others “off their turf,” Det. Sgt. Trimble said.

Among the other shootings linked to Galloway Boys, dating from September 2011 to August 2012, were a triple shooting outside a Domino’s Pizza outlet on Lawrence Avenue; an attempted murder during a drug deal on Northfield Road; a drive-by shooting on Kingston Road; two shootings on Lawrence Avenue where no victims were identified; and a shooting near the Lawrence East RT station, where an up-and-coming Galloway Boy was gunned down against a fence.

Colin O’Connor for National Post

The various crimes have been linked through “investigative means and forensic means,” including recovered firearms, police said.

“Investigators believe that the conflict between the Galloway Boys and other neighbourhoods in the Scarborough area, and in particular Orton Park, is being fuelled by the Galloway Boys’ propensity for violence, their ability to obtain guns and their willingness to seek revenge,” Det. Sgt. Nicol said. “We have some information that the shooters in these incidents are vying for the leadership within the Galloway Boys group.”

The leadership battle comes as key members of the Galloway Boys emerge from jail after years in prison, sparking tensions between older gang leaders and a newer generation that stepped up to fill the vacuum.

There are people out there that watched every second of this… As a society, we all need to participate in the system

But residents of Danzig Street, where bullet holes remain visible in a tree trunk, are still reticent to speak publicly, saying Tuesday they are afraid there is nothing police can do to protect them from the gang’s wrath.

It is a fear police know all too well.

“There are people out there,” Det. Sgt. Trimble said, “that watched every second of this… As a society, we all need to participate in the system.”

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